


Pansy's Poetry

by Mamapotterhead2492



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 00:49:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16186628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mamapotterhead2492/pseuds/Mamapotterhead2492
Summary: Visiting his wife's gravesite for the tenth anniversary of her death, brings up some painful yet bittersweet memories for Percy Weasley.





	Pansy's Poetry

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Sing-Me-A-Rare Vol. 2. Much love to alpha/beta who shall remain nameless for the moment. 
> 
> Song Prompt: "Don't Take The Girl" - Tim McGraw

The fog always seemed to be clinging to her hill on this day. Percy thought it a morbid sort of tradition the land produced, just like the annual pilgrimage he made to this spot. The weeping willow that shielded her from the world always seemed to mourn as his heart did with each passing year she was gone. Percy Weasley missed his wife so much that he could taste it, even ten years later. He never came alone though.

 

 

Poseidon Weasley was ten years old that day, and he had never met the person they came to see, but he knew all about her. She had such pretty blue eyes that the sky had been jealous of their color, or, at least, that’s what his father always said. Her hair had been the color of coal, and she had worn it cascading and curly after her Hogwarts days. Her tongue had been true to her house, vicious and biting when provoked, but smooth as a stone when she was calm. His mum had been beautiful inside and out, even though few saw it besides his father. 

 

 

They approached the bottom of the incline to her secluded spot, and Percy felt his heartstrings tug. Each step felt weighted down by a powerful, loving memory. Flashes in his head, from their childhood on. 

 

_He remembered the first time he ever met her, when they were children. Before the Weasleys had become pariahs for consorting with muggles, the Weasleys and the Parkinsons had been pretty good friends. Ron and Pansy had been as oil and water from the start but something about Percy’s quiet nature intrigued the young Pansy._

 

_“Percy,” Arthur called from a distance, “Come on. Pansy wants to play with you.”_

 

_The third eldest Weasley son looked up from his book and gave his head a firm shake. Arthur grimaced at his son’s persistence. But he shook his head and took off after his other sons. As Percy began to dig back into his book, a meek voice interrupted his train of thought._

 

_“What are you reading?”_

 

 _Looking up, he became perplexed by the eyes looking down at him, trying to read over his shoulder. A cough caught in his throat as he felt flush. He stumbled and mumbled a reply about it being a Lovecraft novel. His new companion took this opportunity to sit beside him and resume reading where she had began. The young Weasley was flustered, but a small smile graced his features as she curled her small arms around him. His heart swelled_. 

 

Poseidon ran up ahead of him, as he always did, eager to greet his mother. He loved telling her of his adventures with his Weasley cousins and other things. Life after the war had been good to the single father, or as good as could be expected after his sunlight had left him. That was exactly how he always described her; his sunlight, his angel, even though few had seen her true sunny disposition. He remembered one time in particular. It had been their biggest obstacle but their biggest reconciliation as well. 

 

 

During the brunt of the Second Wizarding War, Voldemort had tries to recruit any pureblood child of Hogwarts age, Pansy included. When he finally tried to enlist her for a task, Percy had already been out of Hogwarts. However, he was still the person she ran to. 

 

_A loud crack echoed through his small flat. It knocked over a small stack of books and a whispered curse followed. Sleep-addled eyes stared up at the beautiful face that lived in his dreams._

 

_“Pansy? What’s wrong?” He sat up fully and she sat beside him on the sofa._

 

_Immediately her nose was buried in the crook of his neck, tears spilling onto his bare flesh. Her body tensed up as sobs quaked through her small body, sniffles mingling with her whinges._

 

_“The Dark Lord… he, he’s given me a task. I don’t want any part of this Perc, I just want you.”_

 

_His arms encompassed her and pulled her tightly to him. Stroking her hair and her back, he tried to calm her._

 

_“...Calm down… shhhhh… shhh, shhhh. What task has he given you?”_

 

_He felt her body slacken in his embrace as she took a deep breath, pausing for a moment and then exhaling._

 

_“He wants me, to g-g-give this Gryffindor a cursed necklace, to give to Dumbledore. I-I-I can’t do it Perce, I can’t. He’s threatening my mum and dad, but, I’m not strong enough.”_

 

_Percy swallowed the information and began to formulate a plan. She continued to sob into his neck while he pondered this new angle to the war._

 

_“Give me a few days, we will figure this out. Would you agree to Order protection?” He asked, his hands stilling on her back._

 

_Pansy nodded._

 

_“What about your mum?”_

 

_Pansy shook her head._

 

_“She’ll never leave Dad. She takes her vows seriously, its til death. But I, I just can’t. I don’t want to be a Death Eater. I want the future we talked about.”_

 

_Percy hugged her tight and kissed her forehead._

 

_“Let me get ahold of my mum and a few other Order members. We will get you out, I swear on my magic. Just act normal for now, and when it's time to go, I’ll let you know.”_

 

_Pansy sobbed again, burying herself in him._

 

_“Thank you Percy. Thank you so much. I don't know how I’ll ever repay you.”_

 

_She was in his lap now. Her warm breath mingling with his own as she stared down at him. Percy’s hands itched to grasp her waist, but he was nervous. Only Pansy affected him this way, causing him to second guess himself. Green eyes met blue and Percy could only think of one way for her to make it up to him. It was a ludicrous idea, they were just friends, but it was what he had always wanted._

 

_“Marry me,” he whispered._

 

_“What?” Dead air felt thick between them._

 

_“Marry me. A-A-After Hogwarts. Just marry me.”_

 

_Pansy’s chest was heaving. Neither one of them broke the eye contact._

 

_“Yes.”_

 

_Percy smiled up at her, finally letting his hands fall to her hips. He pulled her tight against him, letting his lips linger just millimeters shy of her own. She took the first plunge and kissed him hard on the lips._

 

_“I-I-I have a confession…” he stuttered, pulling away._

 

_Pansy placed one perfectly manicured finger against his lips._

 

_“Don’t. I’ve felt the same way, for years now. Being with you is the only thing that makes sense.”_

 

 _Percy kissed the pad of her fingertip and used both hands to pull her down into a sweet and sensual kiss_. 

 

Tears streamed down Percy’s wrinkled face as he remembered their sweetest memories, the ones closest to his heart. Luckily, he was shielded from Poseidon by the branches and leaves of the weeping willow. As Percy stopped for a moment to catch his breath, he looked up into the tree that his wife had picked to keep her safe after her death, long before her time. Removing his spectacles, he wiped the tears and condensation from them with trembling hands. When he trekked on, memories flooded to him again. 

 

Flashes of memories invaded his senses, of their wedding, and christmases, his mind finally settling on the day they had found out she was pregnant with Poseidon. 

 

_She had interrupted their packing up of her belongings to use the restroom. Percy stopped packing dishes and looked up at the clock on the wall. That had been ten minutes ago. The tall redhead stood and walked toward the room his fianceè had disappeared into. The door was shut, so he knocked, then waited. After a few minutes, the door opened slowly._

 

_“What’s going on?” The question was out of his mouth before she could even speak._

 

_“Percy, I.. I mean we, we’re pregnant.”_

 

_A small smile tweaked the corner of her mouth at the revelation._

 

_Percy’s eyes grew wide._

 

_“That’s excellent news!”_

 

 _He took her in his embrace and hugged her to him tightly_. 

 

It was just one of many happy memories, twinged with sadness because, eight months later, she left him. That memory was most prominent in his mind.

 

_He remembered everything--- the smell of the hospital, the excitement of becoming parents for the first time, the babble of other patients, Pansy’s screams of agony, and then the deafening silence that followed when the Healer pulled him aside and asked to talk to him alone._

 

_When they reached a waiting room down the hall from where Pansy was, the Healer shut the door and looked at him seriously._

 

_“Mister Weasley, your wife, some of her tests have been coming back with questionable results. We can’t say for sure what is going on with her, but we’re losing her.”_

 

_Percy sat down, raking his hands over his face._

 

_“Losing her?” His voice was meek, thick with emotion._

 

_“Percy,” the Healer began, “Something inside her body is killing her. She’s fading, and fast.”_

 

_Percy nodded his understanding as tears collected on his lashes. His head fell. He was going to lose his wife, his fate was single fatherhood._

 

_“What about the baby?”_

 

_The Healer nodded._

 

_“The baby should be fine. If Pansy gets any weaker before the child is born, we will start surgery immediately. I’m so sorry Percy. I wish there was something I could do,” the Healer said, placing his hand on Percy’s shoulder._

 

_Percy shrugged it off, standing again slowly._

 

_“I’ll be with my wife.”_

 

_He exited the small room, making quick work of getting to his wife’s side. When he entered, Pansy looked up at him and smiled. It was a weak smile, as if she couldn’t fight much longer, but it still filled Percy with warmth. His beautiful wife was smiling for him, same as always, her big smile that she reserved almost solely for him. Tears dripped from his lashes as he walked to the chair beside her medical bed. He sat down into it, grabbing for her hand instantly. The frail woman before him turned to stare at him._

 

_“Percy, I’m dying.”_

 

_Shock rose into his face at her confession. He looked at her in disbelief._

 

_“How did you know?” He asked._

 

_Pansy only smiled as another contraction caused her body to tense. She breathed through it, squeezing Percy’s hand. A small grunt of discomfort and a relieved sigh later she was laying against the bed again. Disturbing their newfound silence, the medi-witch entered the room to check for dilation. Percy watched as she lifted up the sheet and check his wife’s cervix._

 

_“Eight centimeters, so close Mrs. Weasley,” she said joyfully as she tapped Pansy’s knee._

 

_Pansy returned a small smile and let her eyes rove over Percy’s features._

 

_“I love you so much Percy Weasley. When everyone around me thought I was just a spoiled, thoughtless little rich girl, you saw the glimmer of more in me. You let me read over your shoulder, you wrote me poetry, you encouraged me to have my own thoughts. Ever since I was a small girl, there was only ever you. Ever since that first day underneath the weeping willow tree, when you welcomed my curiosity and let me snuggle into you, I’ve only had eyes for you. Did you know, that’s why I want to be buried underneath a willow?”_

 

_Percy nodded as he kissed her knuckles._

 

_“I want to feel as close to you as possible. I know the weeping willow will keep me as safe as my favorite Weasley always did. If this baby’s a girl, name her Willow, won't you?”_

 

_Percy nodded again, knowing his wife was monologuing her feelings for him so that he would never forget them._

 

_“Anything you want my love, anything,” he assured her._

 

_Pansy looked away for a moment, he was sure it was to wipe tears out of her eyes because she knew he hated to see her cry. It pained him to see those beautiful blue saucers do anything but shine with unbridled happiness._

 

_“Percy,” she began again, turning to face him again, “I will wait for you, always. I will be with you, always. I will long for you, always, beneath our tree. Be a good father, like yours, and never let our child forget me…..” she trailed off here and hiccuped around a sob._

 

_Percy reached a hand up to brush against her hair, staring deep into her beautiful eyes, waiting for her to continue._

 

_“Percy…. Percy, my love, my ginger snap, my bookworm, the only man I ever loved…. I shall wait for you Percy. I… Percy,” she trailed off again, this time, her eyes searched the room as if she was disoriented._

 

_He squeezed her hand and tried to force her face toward his._

 

_“I’m here Pansy, right here, just like it’s always been. I’m never far from your side.”_

 

_Pansy’s blind eyes seemed to focus on where his voice was emitting from. She reached a hand out and stroked his cheek, her smile returning to her face._

 

_“My Percy…. I love you Percy. I love our child, and i love the life you gave me…. I’ve only got a few moments Perc, before I’ll be gone… Promise me, that no matter how hard it is, you’ll find happiness again. You deserve the world, and to love again.”_

 

_Percy couldn’t hold back his tears as she spoke what he was sure were her final words. Suddenly the wards the had been placed over her bed to track fetal movement and her vitals began beeping and wailing. He felt like he was moving in slow motion as medi-witches and Healers sped into the room. Somehow, he got shoved out of the way as he tried desperately to grasp for her fingers and keep their final connection. He could hear her calling for him as his fingers slipped from between hers._

 

_“I’m here Pansy, right here! I love you Pansy! I love you so so much. I….” his_

_words were stolen from her ears as a Healer placed him outside the door of her room._

 

_Spinning around, he punched a wall, tears blurring his vision. He couldn't believe the foul unfairness of this world. His beautiful wife was ripped from this world, and he was ripped away from watching his child enter the world. Beating on the wall until his fists and knuckles bled, he cried, his wails echoing off the corridor walls. Passersby stared at him as he felt every last inch of fight bottle up like froth from a wrongly poured potion inside him. He was as livid as he was heartbroken and destroyed. Slumping against the wall, he looked up at the ceiling, and without being sure whom or what he was talking to, he began to speak._

 

_“Take me. Please, just take me instead. Don't let her die. Let her raise our child, and grow old and weary. Take me and spare her, please. I don't want to live in a world without Pansy Weasley in it. She is my everything, please take me. I want it to be me. Let Pansy and my child live. If anyone deserves to die, it's me. I betrayed and deserted my family at the worst time. I need to be the one to go. Take my breath, and give it to her. Take my heartbeat and make hers stronger. Take the blood that flows through these veins and breathe new life into her beautiful body. She doesn’t deserve this,” he sobbed to no one in particular._

 

_Sitting slouched against the wall, he buried his head in his hands for what felt like hours. Not so patiently awaiting to hear the fate of his wife and child, he sobbed. Tears spilled from his eyes like water running from a faucet. When a medi-witch finally found him, his cheeks were rubbed raw from wiping away tears._

 

_“Mister Weasley?” She asked meekly._

 

_Percy nodded slowly._

 

_“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your wife is gone.”_

 

_Percy nodded his understanding a second time._

 

_“What of the baby?” He asked._

 

_“Why don't you come see for yourself?”_

 

_She pulled him to standing and he followed her down another corridor. When Percy looked up, he was in front of a window. Bassinets sat mostly empty in three lines from one end of the nursery to the other. Of all those beds, five were filled; two pink and three blue. Scanning the rows, he searched for the name Weasley. When he discovered it, he noticed a blue cap and sleeper. Percy’s heart flooded with pride. He had a son. Pansy had given him a boy._

 

_“How big is he? How long?”_

 

_The medi-witch smiled._

 

_“Nine pounds even, and 21 inches long. After you and the wee lad go home, we will send a birth announcement.”_

 

_Percy nodded. That’s all he felt he could do was nod. He felt like he was on autopilot._

 

_“Do you have a name for your sweet boy?”_

 

_“Poseidon, Poseidon Frederick Weasley.”_

 

_The little boy had black hair with red ends that stood up as if he had stuck his chubby little finger into the power sockets Hermione and his father had told him about._

 

_“Beautiful name.”_

 

_Percy smiled and looked up at the medi-witch._

 

_“My wife, she always said she liked the name Poseidon. It’s only right. May I hold him?”_

 

_The medi-witch didn’t speak, she only pushed the door to their left open._

 

_“Little tyke is probably getting hungry. We have liquid formula, since his mum isn’t here to nurse him. Go on,” she urged._

 

_Entering the nursery, he didn’t take his eyes off his son. He was eager to hold him, and shower him with the love of two parents._

 

Percy fell to his knees as he remembered holding little Poseidon for the first time. Pansy had always hoped for a son first with girls to follow. Still on bended knee, he stared up at the spot where his little boy had disappeared. 

 

“Pansy, my darling flower, I miss you so much,” he whispered to the grass beneath his feet. 

 

He looked up, stood again, and continued the small walk up to where his son sat beside his wife. Reaching the shade of the tree in no time at all, he pushed the fronds out of the way. Poseidon lay beside his mother’s stone, fingers running across it while he babbled away. It made Percy’s anguished face twitch with happiness. 

 

“How’s Mum today kiddo?” He asked, trying to pull himself from his woe. 

 

Poseidon gazed up at his father, joy dancing in his cerulean blue eyes, identical to his mother’s. 

 

“She’s doing good. The area around her is spic and span, and she is eager to listen, just like always.” 

 

Percy nodded  

 

“She always was an excellent listener. She used to listen to me recite poetry that i wrote for her, and recite Shakespearean sonnets. I know she would love to listen to your outlandishly creative tales.” 

 

Poseidon nodded and continued to talk to his mother. Percy smiled as he sat down on the opposite side of the stone, stroking it gingerly. He remembered the day they had placed her here. 

 

It had been misting, not raining and foggy, as if the Earth mourned the loss of his sunshine from the world as much as he did in that instance. The trek up to the shade of the willow had seemed to take hours, each footstep rocking Percy to his core, sending a shooting pain straight to his aching heart. Few members of the Parkinson family had shown, but every living Weasley was there. Draco and her fellow Slytherin friends had come to help him carry his bride to her final resting place. Her Slytherin brothers each spoke, leaving Percy for last. He had chosen to recite her favorite poem, one he wrote for her, with a few small amendments. 

 

_“Your eyes shine the same blue as the sky’s reflection on the sea,_

_Your hair a dark contrast to the sun in the depths of your soul,_

_Your heart is your darkest secret-- only a few get to know,_

_Your smile puts the sun and moon to shame,_

_I could go on for hours, just sitting in the rain,_

_The weeping willow keeps our secrets,_

_Until at long last we meet again,_

_I love everything about you my dear,_

_Even if you are a snake_

_But the thing I love the most about you,_

_Is that you chose,_

_You chose a chance on me to take._

_The Earth weeps with me, learning of your pass,_

_Because not much can be more beautiful, than you, my darling sassafras,_

_Your beauty rivaled even that of the flower you shared the name of,_

_And tis a dull and dreary day knowing your gone._

_Rest in Peace my sunshine,_

_Beam bright for me always,_

_Until my time is done,_

_For our time apart comes to an end,_

_When we can again become one_.”

 

The poem had brought his mother and most of the other assembled to tears, including himself as he wrote and amended it. 

 

“Dad?” Poseidon’s voice brought him back to reality. 

 

“Hm?” 

 

“Do you think Mum likes that we bring her a sunflower every year? Shouldn't we bring a pansy? Or a rose?” His son asked, gesturing to the flower resting regally against the space between her birth and death days. 

 

Percy shook his head, secretly trying to wipe away a few stray tears. 

 

“No, son. Your mum hated pansies. She used to hate sunflowers too, but I changed her mind.”

 

Poseidon looked at his father as if he was crazy.

 

“How did you do that?” He asked again.

 

“I started calling her my sunshine, so bright that she could make even the most stubborn of sunflowers grow.” 

 

Poseidon smiled at him and nodded. 

 

The two Weasleys sat beside her stone for hours that day, while Percy told story after story about Pansy. Poseidon listened with laser focus. Percy began to feel like, even though ten years had passed, he was still as close to Pansy as he had been up until the day she left him. As long as he had Poseidon by his side, he would be okay. He was his mother’s twin, excluding the red ends of his shaggy black hair. That day, in the hospital he asked for Pansy to stay on this Earth. Whoever was listening had given him just that, in his son. 

 

"Poseidon..." His sweet boy looked up at the mention of his name.

"Yeah Dad?" 

"Happy Birthday." 

 

Poseidon's face broke into a huge smile. 

 

Just like that, the fog cleared. 

 


End file.
